Ice Vapor Goddess

Chapter 22 Beneath the City
Xiren stood up and tapped on the Steel Angel's armor: "What do you plan to do with it?"

Aldridge stroked its brass plaque: "The Archangel, responsible for managing the other angels, exercising God's sovereignty, the angelic central hub on the battlefield, with twice the number of red mercury tanks as ordinary angels, equipped with a Soul Decree System, a Holy Law Amplification Array, a Composite Crystal Observation Device, Wings of Holy Blood, a Scepter of Order, and a Guardian of Proverbs System..."

His eyes gleamed with pride and sorrow: "It is the commander, the tactical hub, its own combat ability is average, but it is the core of the Knights."

“I know the situation at the Church of Speyer is bad, and there are still demonic creatures active outside. With an Iron Angel around, at least others will think twice before they touch us.” Aldridge used the term “we” for the first time. “As long as you don’t use it against innocent people and civilians, I won’t interfere.”

Xilun nodded; given the current situation, he did indeed need force.

“But you have no knight, and no Mercury.” Aldridge delivered a blow to his head.

"Uh..." Xiren scratched his head, remembering that Saint Curi hadn't seen the Red Mercury. "Let's put the Red Mercury aside for now. What did the knight say?"

"You think just anyone can ride the Steel Angel?" Aldridge chuckled. "The full set weighs a ton, and the armor reaches a temperature of about 70°C when the boiler is running. It's like being encased in a scorching ton of iron. Every movement is aided by additional force. Ordinary people would suffer fractures and sprains just from walking in it... A Royal Knight can barely wear it, but only a Legendary Knight can use it flexibly, and even then, special training is required."

Xilun tapped his head.

In this world, melee classes are collectively called knights, regardless of whether they use swords, axes, or spears. "Knight" here is a title and rank, not a name for someone who rides a horse.

Knights can generally be divided into apprentice knights, regular knights, royal knights, and legendary knights. My two bodyguards are regular knights, possessing superhuman strength, running speed, resilience, and recovery abilities. They can also perform some tricks, such as [Hemostasis] and [Holy Light Sword].

I've heard that Ryan Hoffman is a legendary knight, but Siron certainly can't give him the Iron Angel.

“Let’s lock it here for now,” Xilun said.

He thought of his senior brother, the genius who became a legendary knight at the age of twenty-seven, a member of the Iron Angels. If he could find him... then this set of armor would have someone to use it.

As the steel plate gradually closed, Xilun let out a long sigh of regret.

Suddenly, the squad leader who was guarding outside ran in and whispered to Siron, "Your Excellency, the governor's messenger just came by and said there's a situation outside the city. We're under attack and they want us to go up and help defend it."

Xilun raised an eyebrow, his gaze sweeping over the few pieces of armor and weapons in the Holy Treasury: "Eldridge, arm them, we're going to the city walls."

“Your Excellency, we…” The soldiers hesitated, wringing their hands.

“You are now my subordinates,” Siren said.
-
Twenty minutes later, on the towering walls of Speyside.

A group of knights dressed in standard white full armor walked onto the city wall, quickly attracting the attention of all the soldiers.

They wore knight helmets adorned with white feathers and clad in platinum plate armor. The holy patterns and runes together formed their shimmering bodies, with various rune arrays such as flexible runes, protective runes, warming runes, and vitality runes faintly visible, which, together with the cross, formed complex nested emblems.

They carried platinum cross-shaped longswords at their waists, clearly forged from a magical alloy—the pure white blades were not the color of ordinary metals. Ammunition pouches were strapped to their other sides, and breech-loading rifles, also painted in platinum, were slung across their backs. In comparison, although the governor's soldiers also wore dashing black overcoats with gleaming gold epaulets and tassels, they were no match for these knights-in-the-sky figures.
There were seven knights in total, surrounding the black-robed bishop in the center.

He had medium-length curly black hair, and his blue eyes held a calm and compassionate look. He held a shepherd's staff with a curved tip and wore a black robe with purple trim. The purple trim was made of drawn magical metal, which was not only an adornment for the bishop but also had runes sewn into it. It also had the functions of keeping warm and protecting him, deflecting bullets slightly, and had super toughness to prevent cuts from knives and swords.

The three layers of thermal cotton clothing he wore underneath made him look a little stronger, at least not as frail as before. He also had a short-barreled shotgun slung inside his trench coat.

He walked to the city wall and saw for the first time the governor whom others had mentioned countless times—

Ryan Hoffman.

Siren's attention was immediately drawn to his mechanical right hand, while Raine glanced at five of the seven knights with a look of disgust.

“Bishop of Speyside, Siron Delland,” Siron introduced himself, extending his hand.

But Renn didn't shake hands or acknowledge him; he simply turned his head away, too lazy to even look at Xilun, and gazed down at the city walls.

Xilun smiled, showing no embarrassment, and turned his gaze to the city below.

The place had now turned into a bloody wasteland, with all sorts of animals lying dead there. Crimson blood flowed from bodies pierced by bullets, then instantly froze into red blocks of ice by the snow. Not even a trace of blood could be smelled. In this snowstorm, only death itself continued to spread.

Down there are bears, deer, tigers, and even otters, rabbits, and mice.

Like the wolves they encountered before, these were creatures from a zoo—though the rats were likely from nearby villages and cities.

“There are more crystals on my body than before…” Xiren muttered to himself.

The icy blue transparent crystals on many animals have covered one leg or half of their face, indicating a deepening of their demonic transformation.

A small squad of soldiers opened the city gate and went down to the city wall with melee weapons to clear out the small animals, since it was not a good idea to waste bullets on rats.

Xilun saw a small, four-legged mech emerge from the city gate. Inside the three-sided transparent cabin, resembling an excavator, sat a soldier. The mech had a large sword welded to one hand and a crank-handled machine gun welded to the other. Ammunition belts were connected to ammunition boxes on its back, protected by iron plates on the sides. A steam boiler was overhead, emitting billowing white steam and making a loud noise.

That was a walking mech, the Empire's basic mechanical unit. It was frantically hacking at the mutated rats, while the crazed creatures pounced on the mech's feet, hoping to bite them off.

But when the hidden valve turned, the high-speed circular saw under its four legs spun rapidly, cutting the rats into a shower of blood.

Xiren stared longingly at the mech, wishing he could go find Aldridge immediately. He couldn't operate the Iron Angel, but he had to get at least two of these!

(End of this chapter)